As part of my ongoing rover project, I have started writing C++ libraries for the various sensors and actuators. The first device I have begun to tackle writing a library for is the Adafruit 10DOF sensor. This sensor has libraries available for Arduino boards and in Python. Writing library code for the sensor hasn’t been without issues but has been a great learning experience. There are a lots of online tutorials but I have found that Derek Molloy’s tutorials have been consistently helpful. I recently bought Derek Molloy’s book Exploring BeagleBone: Tools and Techniques for Building with Embedded Linux to aid me in working with the BeagleBone Black. I did so because I found his freely available tutorials extremely thorough and have had the most success following them compared to other material online. His book includes the material in his tutorials plus more including introductory topics such as administering Linux and basic electronic components to advanced topics such as interacting with the onboard Programmable Real-time Units (PRUs).

To start writing the driver for the 10DOF, I focused on one sensor at a time. I took the Arduino code for each sensor provided by Adafruit and went about replacing all calls to the Wire library to appropriate calls to the libmraa library. The 10DOF sensor uses the I2C bus to communicate with all the sensors and, initially, I used Derek Molloy’s I2CDevice class to handle communication. After some success with this class, I decided to use Intel’s libmraa for handling all communication between the BeagleBone Black and peripherals. I made this switch because Molloy’s class is not as complete as libmraa and only deals with I2C communication whereas the libmraa api includes SPI, GPIO, UART and PWM functionality. This means I can use libmraa for controlling the motors and other sensors instead of having to write my own code or relying on separate libraries for sensors using different communication interfaces.

Writing the driver for each sensor was not as simple as replacing some functions in the Arduino code. The datatypes in the Arduino code had to be changed to match those recognized by the g++ compiler while staying true to the datatype used to store the data in the sensor’s registers. This required a close reading of each sensor’s data sheet to make sure I was storing the register data in variables with the same datatype. I won’t go into fine detail as to what changes I made since you can see the code yourself and compare it to the original Adafruit Arduino code.

There were a few times while working with the 10DOF sensor when I lost connection to it. This can occur when a register on a sensor is mishandled causing the sensor lock up becoming unresponsive. To deal with these lock ups when working remotely, I wired a P2N2222 transistor into the 10DOF sensor circuit so that I could power cycle the sensor if it became unresponsive. This has happened a couple of times while developing the driver software. I’ve been careful to make sure I’m properly working with the registers but mistakes still happen. Thankfully no damage was done and I haven’t needed to use this feature yet.

I’m still working on the driver and will post another update when it’s completed. The code for the BMP180, L3GD20 and LSM303 sensors can be found on my github page. Just make sure you have the libmraa library installed on your BeagleBone Black. This code is still under development and is provided with no warranty so use it at your own risk. If you have any comments on the code, please use the github issues page. My plan is to roll these separate libraries into one library for use with the 10DOF sensor but I will keep the repos for each sensor for those who buy the sensors individually.

Here is quick update on the progress of my Smart Lamp project I started near the end of the summer. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have already put together a prototype circuit to test controlling the flow of power to a plugged in lamp based on the input of the light sensor. Below is the proposed final circuit for the smart light project. The only change I foresee is the removal of the LED indicator since the Trinket and the AC-DC converter both feature LEDs on them and space is tight in the enclosure.

Smart Lamp Final Circuit

I’ve bought a Hammond ABS enclosure to hold all the components. I removed the mounting stand-offs as they did not match well with any of the components and the relay would not fit if mounted to them. The white board you see in the picture is foam board which I was thinking of using as a medium to mount the parts to. My current plan is the use Velcro to secure the components right to the case. I tested this using my EDtracker build and a small Hammond enclosure and it worked well. The tracker is secure when in the case but can be easily removed if need be. I have included a picture that tries to illustrate how the extension cord will be routed through the enclosure. I still need to drill a hole for the end on the left of the picture.

Smart Lamp in Enclosure

Cable Path

The biggest change since my last post is the addition of a spare USB charger I had. This will serve the purpose of powering the microcontroller right off of the extension cord. I have removed the USB port from the charger and soldered wires where the power pins were in order to keep the USB port on the Trinket free for programming. Unlike the circuit shown above, the trinket is mounted on a (trimmed) proto-board in order to easily allow multiple connections for powering the relay and sensor.

There’s just testing, soldering and calibration left! I’ll post a final build update regarding the testing and calibration with pictures of the final product soon.

My Dad has been doing some remodeling of his living room recently and, as part of this, bought bookshelves and some lights to go with them. He wanted some way to turn them on without having to deal with the little switch included with the lights so he thought it would be nice if the lights turned on in the evening on their own. So the task fell to me and and I happily accepted.

This project is actually fairly simple as only a few cheap parts are needed and little coding is required. There is a real danger of electrocution with this project however as we are dealing with voltages from 120V to 220V ( depending on where you live). Please be sure to the necessary precautions when working with live wires for this and any project you take on.

Since I didn’t have access to the lights when I started nor did I have a light sensor handy, I started by creating a prototype to test the relay with an Adruino Uno R3. I wrote a simple loop that closed the the relay, waited a second then opened it again. This was repeated so long as power was supplied to the Arduino.

Relay connected to extension cord.

For the next prototype I simply added a sensor I had lying around to test controlling the relay based on the input form a sensor. I sensor I chose was a IR motion sensor. The end result was an extension cord that would send power to whatever was plugged into it when motion was detected. I’ll post an update once the light sensor arrives and I find time wire up a circuit for testing.